NSAA Names Sales And Marketing Awards Winners

June 02, 2003

SAN DIEGO, May 31 // — The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) announced twelve winners of its 2002/03 Sales and Marketing Awards today at a luncheon at NSAA’s National Convention and Trade Show in San Diego, Calif. The awards are presented annually to ski resorts across the country for marketing programs that have proven success in growing the sports of skiing and snowboarding.

This year’s awards were presented in three categories: Best program to grow the sport to new participants; Best program to increase frequency of core participants; and Best program to convert new participants to core participants. Four winners were chosen in each category based on resort size. The winning programs are as follows:

The interchangeable Bounceback Program was good at all three Snow Time resorts. Resort guests who participated in the learn to ski or snowboard program at any of the three resorts received discounts on an All Mountain Package and frequent skier card for their next visit.

Arapahoe Basin, Colo. (250,000 – 500,000 visits)

The Bookin’ at the Basin ski school program offered a season pass to each Summit County middle school student that read 34 hours during a twelve-week period. 150 students out of a total of 600 students completed the program.

Mad River Mountain, Ohio (100,000 – 250,000 visits)

Mad River’s Online Group Sales Program (OGS) offered a completely automated group season pass sales process and rewarded participants with cost savings and efficiency. Mad River experienced a 30 percent increase in program numbers and had more than 10,000 people participate this season.

Hidden Valley Ski Area, Mo. (0 – 100,000 visits)

The Master of the Mountain program encourages groups to try skiing or snowboarding for a fraction of the regular season pass cost. The program utilized current customers to capture first time skiers.

Best Program To Increase Frequency of Core Participants:

Mountain High Resort, Calif. (500,000-plus skier/snowboarder visits)

Mountain High’s The Quad program capitalized on the resort’s easy access and promoted visitation in the evenings by offering four adult night lift tickets for a low cost. The Quad program represents an estimated 12,000 skier visits and has increased sales by 227 percent over the initial season.

Sierra-at-Tahoe Snowsport Resort, Calif. (250,000 – 500,000 visits)

Through the Vertical Plus and Season Pass Frequent Snowsporting Program the resort kept track of the total vertical feet accomplished by each participant. Participants were able to redeem their vertical feet for discounts at the resort. The number of season pass holders that upgraded to Vertical Plus increased by 29 percent.

Perfect North Slopes, Ind. (100,000 – 250,000 visits)

The Time Is On Your Side program introduced the “flex ticket.” Perfect North Slopes changed their pass program to better suit their customers. The total number of pass holders increased by 30 percent and pass revenue grew by 32 percent.

Mount Bohemia, Mich. (0 – 100,000 visits)

Through its Ladies Ski Free Program, what began as a very low female audience is now 33 percent of the resorts total audience. The male audience has increased by 20 percent.

Best Program To Convert New Participants to Core Participants:

Holiday Valley, N.Y. (500,000-plus skier/snowboarder visits)

Creekside Lodge offered an adult learning center for beginner participants and put several amenities in one place, including lessons and rental equipment. The learning center also enabled the resort to track return visits by giving each beginner a discount card for their return trip.

Windham Mountain, N.Y. (250,000 – 500,000 visits)

Windham’s First Class program provided contact with new participants from the time they reached the entrance of the resort. It provided the custoomer with personal service every step of the way.

Angel Fire Resort, N.M. (100,000 – 250,000 visits)

In the You Keep The Gear program, guests learned how to ski or snowboard on brand new equipment and then kept the gear at the end of the lesson. The package also included half-price lift tickets for the guest’s return visit.

Mad River Glen, Vt. (0 – 100,000 visits)

Mad River’s Kids Free Pass Program focused on kids by encouraging parents to purchase a pass and receive a free pass for their child. Total resort revenues and the number of adult passes sold both increased dramatically.

The National Ski Areas Association serves as the trade association for ski area owners and operators. NSAA began in 1962 and is located in Lakewood, Colo. For more information regarding these winning programs visit www.nsaa.org , “Sales and Marketing Awards.”